treak4455: It stops the goalie from wandering too far behind the net to stop shoot-ins. The "Marty B. Rule", as I call it, means that they can't field the dump-ins and quickly pass them back out to the defenceman if it's behind the redline and outside the trapazoid. It forces the defenceman to retrieve the puck on his own, giving the forecheckers a chance. In regards to the attendance figures, I'm still a little wary of the results they are trumpeting. I've heard too many cases where the Leafs have played on the road in the USA and the attendance was announced as around 90%, but the announcers (and cameras) show large empty sections. Still, any positive news for the NHL is fine by me.

treak4455: It stops the goalie from wandering too far behind the net to stop shoot-ins. The "Marty B. Rule", as I call it, means that they can't field the dump-ins and quickly pass them back out to the defenceman if it's behind the redline and outside the trapazoid. It forces the defenceman to retrieve the puck on his own, giving the forecheckers a chance. Let us stop and give thanks to the great commissioner in the sky, for there shall be no more" dump in/ dump out " pong style hockey. Let us also give thanks for the smighting of the oafish defensman grappling the mercurial and beloved "left-wings". So that they shall be free to skate "untethered" toward the net. The Devils skated to three of the most boring Stanley Cups ever! There should be an astresk next to their name...*played under old clutch and grab style of hockey that nearly destroyed our sport. Save only the "head hunting" of Scott Stevens to make the games played during this period watchable. Ahmen!

I don't like the idea of artificially inflating attendance numbers, but if it is good for the game in the end, so be it. And if folks are receiving free tickets (or however they are padding the gates) and aren't showing up, its their loss.

As ticked off as we were about the lockout, hockey is just too great a sport to ignore out of spite. I missed it so much I bought the CenterIce package as soon as it was available. October 5, 2005 could not get here quick enough. I thought I was going to die from anxiety. Thank God for hockey, and don't let a lockout happen again. (I will miss being able to trash talk the Rangers for having the highest payroll and not making the playoffs.)

gronir, I don't know if I'd call the Devils a clutch-and-grab team. They certainly trapped, but they never struck me as having the physical presence to successfully pull off the clutch-and-grab. Now, the big teams that didn't trap did end up basing their defensive systems on clutching and grabbing. I remember many Toronto-Philadephia 1-1 snoozefests in which no skater could take more than two strides without being smothered.

I wonder how much of this attendance boost is due to all of the ticket discounts the NHL's offering to bring fans back. The attendance boost is good for the league, but the TV ratings have to be worse without ESPN. I can't even find NHL games outside of local Panthers and Lighting games on cable.

Anybody else see the Kings throttle Boston last night? NICE! It's great to have hockey back. It's a good time of year with the NFL playoffs going full bore, the NHL mid-season and baseball right around the corner. Beautiful.

OLN rcade, Mondays & Tuesdays. And dare I say NBC this Saturday afternoon? (granted, it's not as much free exposure as one could wish for, but it's a start, second time around). Thank God I live in Detroit, (who'd have figured anyone would ever say that!). The Wings, & CBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As far as the attendance figures looking inflated when compared to empty seats at the stadiums. The NHL is going by tickets sold, not by seats filled. And as the true fans will notice, at some arenas, (cough Joe Louis cough), the game is just a social event for the people lucky enough to get a ticket. So they waltz in late during the 1st period, attempting to go to ones seat during play, leave for the club during the second, and "beat the traffic" early in the third. All during a tight game! But I digress, (majorly!). Good for the NHL & the fans. This is the most graceful & intense sport available for fans out there! Game On. Go Wings!

tickets sold Actually, the NHL goes by "tickets issued". So all the freebies are counted as well. the game is just a social event for the people lucky enough to get a ticket You should come to Toronto sometime. The ordinary fan was priced out of the arena long ago. Now Leafs tickets are pretty much just a status symbol mostly for corporate suits.

Just goes to show that the fans are easily suckered. Hockey should be as popular as ever as a sport, but the NHL is a joke, and doesn't deserve the support/loyalty/dollars of the fans. I was hoping and praying during the lockout that one of those alternate leagues would actually start up and gain traction.

Just goes to show that the fans are easily suckered. Hockey should be as popular as ever as a sport, but the NHL is a joke, and doesn't deserve the support/loyalty/dollars of the fans. I was hoping and praying during the lockout that one of those alternate leagues would actually start up and gain traction. Yeah, but they didn't, so are you going to back any of that up with anything other than "your favourite sport suxors"?

Its hard to believe that attendance is as reported. At the Arrowhead Pond of Amaheim, in the 12 year history of the "Mighty Ducks" prior to the work stopage, the anounced attendance was usualy 17,173 (standing room only). This no longer the case, now it is in the order of 10,000 to 12,00, the only exception is when the "LA Queens visit.

Yeah, but they didn't, so are you going to back any of that up with anything other than "your favourite sport suxors"? I specifically said that the NHL suxors, not the sport of Hockey. Do you really need proof that the NHL is mismanaged, lies to its audience, and survives despite incompetance and negligence on the part of the league and its owners, due soley to the "loyalty" of fans to corporate entities that market themselves as civic institutions rather than the capital investments that they are? Give me junior hockey, world championship hockey and olympic hockey any day.

I went to a Devils/Sabres game a few years ago during a blizzard. The weather was so bad that when we got back to the parking lot after the game, the cars were covered in snow. I mean completely blanketed, so much so that we cleared off four other cars before we found ours. Anyway, mass transit to the Meadowlands is more or less non-existent, except for a bus from Port Authority in New York, so anyone who had tickets that night had to drive through a terrific storm to get to the game. Needless to say, attendance was somewhere between "sub-par" and "a couple of guys". It was Free Towel Night, but from the turnout you would have thought it was Free Punch in the Face from Turner Stevenson Night. I'm no rain man, but by my estimation, there couldn't have been more than 4, maybe 5,000 people there. Every once in a while before a faceoff at Devils games, they do this "Let's Make Some Noise!" business on the Jumbotron. All mocked up with a graphic equalizer-type dealie at the bottom to show how loud it is and such. So the Jumbotron commands the audience to start this NoiseMaking process, and the crowd is more or less silent. You know, because there's only a handful of people there. But then - all the sudden - it starts getting louder. And louder. AND LOUDER! According to the graphic equalizer thing, it was positively deafening in that there stadium! Except when I looked around, no one was making any noise. Wait a minute: It was all being pumped in from the speakers! We were being duped! Like rubes! Like know-nothing yokels! Like whatever else would be appropriate to describe what I'm trying to express here! And when the speakers and the Jumbotron had exhausted themselves, and slipped into a delicious detumescent silence, you could have heard a cricket sharpen his tiny skates. Like, if crickets played hockey, I mean. Anyway, long story long, there were maybe 5,000 people at that game at most. Announced attendance: 8,000 something something. The fans actually booed when they made the announcement. I tried to find Devils attendance stats to back up this story, but I couldn't. But in any case, attendance stas have been inflated for years. So anyhow, let's make some noise!

gronir, I don't know if I'd call the Devils a clutch-and-grab team. They certainly trapped, but they never struck me as having the physical presence to successfully pull off the clutch-and-grab. Now, the big teams that didn't trap did end up basing their defensive systems on clutching and grabbing. I remember many Toronto-Philadephia 1-1 snoozefests in which no skater could take more than two strides without being smothered DrJohn, I agree with you. My emotions got the better of me. The Devils played the "trap" to perfection and other teams mimicked them. I cut my teeth on hockey in 1974. I grew up in Philadelphia, so you can say I am used to a different style of play. I was driven from the game by the wide open 1980s( damn you Gretsky!) Then I saw a glimmer of hope. Mats Sundin, Eric lindros, John Leclair big guys fore checking, attacking the net!( holy Phil Esposito ..I'm home! Then the Devils proved that their brand of hockey was a very winnable style, so good infact that they had to change the rules. The low point in my fandom was cheering for the Flyers as they played clutch and grab(Hitchcock style) against the Tampa Bay wide open, grip it and rip it( they way you should play the game) hockey in the 03-04 playoffs. I have never been more convoluted.